1. Field of the Invention
The embodiments presented herein generally relate to packet inspection.
2. Background Art
Communication systems, such as Cable television (CATV) systems or Broadband Gateways/Modems, provide internet access, and/or other services to consumers via signals transmitted to customer premises by optical fibers, coaxial cables, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth®, etc. A communication system includes two primary components: one or more remote nodes located proximate customer premises, and a supervisory communication node located at a headend. Communication systems may utilize, for example, Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) or Passive Optical Network (PON) compliant equipment and protocols to carry out a transfer of information, such as video, audio, and/or data between one or more remote nodes and a supervisory communication node.
Consider for example a Passive Optical Network (PON) system such as Gigabit PON (GPON) where a remote node is an Optical Network Unit (ONU) and the supervisory communication node is an Optical Line Terminal (OLT). PON generally refers to a group of specifications published by Full Service Access Network (FSAN) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) that define industry standards for the OLT and the ONUs. One such standard is the ITU-T G.984 Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Networks (GPON) standard which is incorporated herein by reference. In another example, consider a DOCSIS system where the remote node is a cable modem and the supervisory communication node is a cable modem termination system (CMTS). DOCSIS generally refers to a group of specifications published by CableLabs® that define industry standards for the CMTS and the cable modems (CMs). In part, DOCSIS sets forth requirements and objectives for various aspects of cable modem systems including, but not limited to, operations support systems, management, data interfaces, network layer, data link layer, and physical layer transport for data over cable systems. The DOCSIS interface specification entitled “Data-Over-Cable Service Interface Specifications, DOCSIS 3.0, MAC and Upper Layer Protocols Interface Specification, CM-SP-MULPIv3.0-I16-110623” is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
As used herein, the term “downstream” refers to the transfer of information in a direction from the supervisory communication node to the remote nodes. The term “upstream” refers to the transfer of information in a direction from the remote nodes to the supervisory communication node. Typical upstream packet processing by a remote node however is neither selective, nor efficient. Methods and systems are needed to overcome these deficiencies.
The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers may indicate identical or functionally similar elements.